Chiplet ecosystems enable multi-vendor designs

Chiplet ecosystems enable multi-vendor designs
by Don Dingee on 02-20-2024 at 6:00 am

Chiplet Product Use Cases

Chiplets dominate semiconductor industry conversations right now – and after the recent Chiplet Summit, we expect the intensity to go up a couple of notches. One company name often heard is Blue Cheetah, and we had the opportunity to sit down with them recently to discuss their views and their just-announced design win at Tenstorrent.… Read More


WEBINAR: FPGA-Accelerated AI Speech Recognition

WEBINAR: FPGA-Accelerated AI Speech Recognition
by Don Dingee on 12-14-2023 at 6:00 am

Cloud ASR demo on Speedster 7t FPGA

The three-step conversational AI (CAI) process – automatic speech recognition (ASR), natural language processing, and text-to-synthesized speech response – is now deeply embedded in the user experience for smartphones, smart speakers, and other devices. More powerful large language models (LLMs) can answer more queries… Read More


NoCs give architects flexibility in system-in RISC-V design

NoCs give architects flexibility in system-in RISC-V design
by Don Dingee on 11-16-2023 at 6:00 am

Power domains and crossings into NoC for system in RISC V design

RISC-V tends to generate excitement over the possibilities for the processor core, any custom instruction extensions, and its attached memory subsystem. Those are all necessary steps to obtaining system-level performance. But is that attention sufficient? Architects who have ventured into larger system-on-chip (SoC) … Read More


Automotive-grade MIPI PHY IP drives multi-sensor solutions

Automotive-grade MIPI PHY IP drives multi-sensor solutions
by Don Dingee on 11-09-2023 at 10:00 am

Mixel Automotive PHY Solutions

Sensors are critical to every new automotive design, whether created for a driver or self-driving. Frame rates and resolution for car, truck, and SUV imaging systems continue to rise. Getting data from each sensor to a location in the vehicle with sufficient processing power may be challenging, especially when AI inference algorithms… Read More


Pairing RISC-V cores with NoCs ties SoC protocols together

Pairing RISC-V cores with NoCs ties SoC protocols together
by Don Dingee on 10-05-2023 at 6:00 am

An architecture pairing RISC-V cores with NoCs

Designers have many paths for differentiating RISC-V solutions. One path launches into various RISC-V core customizations and extensions per the specification. Another focuses on selecting and assembling IP blocks in a complete system-on-chip (SoC) design around one or more RISC-V cores. A third is emerging: interconnecting… Read More


Keysight EDA 2024 Delivers Shift Left for Chiplet and PDK Workflows

Keysight EDA 2024 Delivers Shift Left for Chiplet and PDK Workflows
by Don Dingee on 09-28-2023 at 8:00 am

Chiplet PHY Designer

Much of the recent Keysight EDA 2024 announcement focuses on high-speed digital (HSD) and RF EDA features for Advanced Design System (ADS) and SystemVue users, including RF System Explorer, DPD Explorer (for digital pre-distortion), and design elements for 5G NTN, DVB-S2X, and satcom phased array applications. Two important… Read More


Deeper RISC-V pipeline plows through vector-scalar loops

Deeper RISC-V pipeline plows through vector-scalar loops
by Don Dingee on 09-14-2023 at 10:00 am

Atrevido 423 + V16 Vector Unit with its deeper RISC-V pipeline technology, Gazillion

Many modern processor performance benchmarks rely on as many as three levels of cache staying continuously fed. Yet, new data-intensive applications like multithreaded generative AI and 4K image processing often break conventional caching, leaving the expensive execution units behind them stalled. A while back, Semidynamics… Read More


Scaling LLMs with FPGA acceleration for generative AI

Scaling LLMs with FPGA acceleration for generative AI
by Don Dingee on 09-13-2023 at 6:00 am

Crucial to FPGA acceleration of generative AI is the 2D NoC in the Achronix Speedster 7t

Large language model (LLM) processing dominates many AI discussions today. The broad, rapid adoption of any application often brings an urgent need for scalability. GPU devotees are discovering that where one GPU may execute an LLM well, interconnecting many GPUs often doesn’t scale as hoped since latency starts piling up with… Read More


Extending RISC-V for accelerating FIR and median filters

Extending RISC-V for accelerating FIR and median filters
by Don Dingee on 09-05-2023 at 10:00 am

Custom hardware blocks for FIR and median filters

RISC-V presents a unique opportunity for designers to extend the microarchitecture with custom instructions. One possible application is digital signal filtering using finite impulse response (FIR) or median filters, potential algorithms for carrier demodulation schemes in communications systems like 5G. Codasip application… Read More


Systematic RISC-V architecture analysis and optimization

Systematic RISC-V architecture analysis and optimization
by Don Dingee on 08-28-2023 at 10:00 am

RISC V architecture analysis and optimization chain

The RISC-V movement has taken off so quickly because of the wide range of choices it offers designers. However, massive flexibility creates its own challenges. One is how to analyze, optimize, and verify an unproven RISC-V core design with potential microarchitecture changes allowed within the bounds of the specification. … Read More